7th Circ. Backs Chicago's Tenant Payout Ordinance

By Celeste Bott

The Seventh Circuit held Wednesday that a Chicago ordinance requiring owners of foreclosed rental buildings to pay tenants $10,600 to help with relocation costs is not an unconstitutional taking of property, saying that state and local authorities have broad power to regulate landlord-tenant relationships.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Apple Can't Get BigTech AI Voice Suits Under Same Ill. Judge

By Lauren Berg

Apple cannot get eight similar proposed class actions alleging BigTech companies exploited the voices of journalists and voice actors to train their artificial intelligence reassigned to the same judge overseeing its case, an Illinois federal court ruled.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

House Panel Summons CEOs Over Private Listing Partnership

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A House antitrust subcommittee requested a briefing with Midwest Real Estate Data CEO Rebecca Jensen and Compass International Holdings CEO Robert Reffkin over their companies' private listing partnership.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

HUD Says States Aren't Harmed By Fair Housing Standards

By Isaac Monterose

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told a California federal court to toss a suit filed by the District of Columbia and 15 states over past standards for receiving funding for fair housing enforcement, arguing that the plaintiffs lack Article III standing because they have not shown how they have been harmed by the funding standards.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FINRA Fines Tastytrade Over Best Execution Rule Compliance

By Sydney Price

Online brokerage platform operator Tastytrade will pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $850,000 to end claims that it did not meet "best execution" standards when it failed to properly review the transaction quality of customers' equity orders.

Settlement attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FEMA Is Illegally Tying Funds To Election Rules, States Say

By Lauren Berg

A group of mostly Democratic-led states asked a Rhode Island federal court Thursday to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from withholding disaster-relief funds unless they comply with the Trump administration's election administration and immigration enforcement demands.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Firm Must Share Sanctions In Door IP Suit, Fed. Circ. Says

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to let a law firm off the hook for about $23,000 in sanctions implemented by a federal judge for not complying with a discovery order in a door manufacturing patent case, ruling that the judge did not improperly rely on a letter the firm said he did.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Conn. Banking Dept. Says Debt Servicer Lacks Key Atty Ties

By Aaron Keller

An Illinois servicing company that says it provides administrative services to debt relief lawyers cannot avoid Connecticut Department of Banking enforcement efforts because it does not appear to be connected to licensed in-state attorneys, the department has said, urging a state judge to dismiss a challenge to its authority.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Ex-Girardi Atty Says Probation's Enough For Role In Theft

By Lauraann Wood

A former Girardi Keese attorney argued Thursday that probation would be a sufficient punishment for his admitted role in helping once-celebrated plaintiffs' attorney Tom Girardi steal millions of settlement dollars from clients whose family members died in a plane crash.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Abbott Labs Accused Of Lax Security Over Shinyhunters Hack

By Gina Kim

Abbott Laboratories and Exact Sciences were hit with a proposed class action in Illinois federal court Wednesday over a cyberattack carried out by a notorious ransomware gang known as "Shinyhunters" that absconded with patients' medical records, which the suit says is far more harmful than standard identity theft.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Kate Hudson Activewear Customer Drops Tariff Refund Claim

By Lauraann Wood

A customer of Kate Hudson's activewear business Fabletics has dropped her claim for refunds of global tariffs she alleged the actress's company passed on to customers before the U.S. Supreme Court found them illegal.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Inside Differing State Approaches To Prediction Market Taxes

As states adopt divergent approaches to prediction market platforms through both legislation and litigation, and the landscape is anything but settled, the emerging patchwork of state taxes on prediction markets presents novel questions about characterization, preemption and compliance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Simpson Thacher Warned Co. About Deal Terms, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A retired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner who handled the fundraising vehicle alleged to have destroyed Patriot National Inc. told a Florida jury Thursday that he flagged deal terms that later became detrimental to the insurance services company.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABA Rips DOJ's 'Absurd' Firm Subpoenas In Documents Fight

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association has blasted as "absurd" the government's move to subpoena law firms as an attempt to avoid a documents request from the organization amid allegations the Trump administration worked to intimidate law firms into conforming with his policy goals through executive orders last year.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge's Deportation Probe 'Off The Rails,' DOJ Tells DC Circ.

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration urged the full D.C. Circuit to either order U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to terminate his criminal contempt inquiry into the administration's Alien Enemies Act removals last year, or order him to forgo live testimony in the probe.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jack Smith's Lawyers Say Criminal Referral Twists Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith's legal team has said the criminal referral a U.S. Congress member sent the Department of Justice to investigate Smith is based on a "spurious claim."

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

500-Member NYC Public Defender Union Ends Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The first and so far only New York City public defender union to go on strike this year announced on Wednesday that its approximately 500 members are returning to work after reaching a tentative agreement with their managers.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Patent Atty Sues USPTO Over 'Flawed' Disciplinary Procedure

By Hailey Konnath

An Ohio patent lawyer Thursday accused the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of using an unlawful "pay for play" system for its disciplinary proceedings against attorneys, claiming the disciplinary proceedings are "inherently biased" and rigged against him and others facing discipline.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Senate Confirms 2 Judges, Advances Ohio And Colo. Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday voted 48-47 to confirm Judge Daniel Traynor of the District of North Dakota to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and 49-44 to confirm Antonio M. Pozos, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, as a judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »